‘Does the Heart fall in LOVE, or the Brain?’

Falling in love 'takes a fifth of a second and is like taking cocaine'- study findings.

Approaching Valentine's Day had filled the air with -Love. It seems, as if everybody is marketing and selling their products by combining the theme of LOVE... that makes me to wonder -'Does the heart fall in love, or the brain?

While browsing news source found the interesting news story as below,Falling in love takes a fifth of a second and produces the same high as taking cocaine - suggest the study findings published in Science daily.

Love at first sight really is possible because it takes just milliseconds for euphoria-inducing chemicals to flood the brain after setting eyes on the right person, researchers believe.

Researchers of Syracuse University in New York had found that the first flush of love stimulates 12 different parts of the brain to start releasing "feel-good" chemicals such as dopamine, oxytocin, adrenaline and vasopression. The love feeling also affects sophisticated cognitive functions, such as mental representation, metaphors and body image.

The same chemicals are triggered by a dose of cocaine - meaning that the feeling of falling in love is similar to that induced by taking the Class-A drug - claims the scientist.The study also showed that different kinds of love affect different parts of the brain.

Unconditional love - such as that between a mother and a child - is triggered by the common and different brain areas, including the middle of the brain.

Passionate love is sparked by the reward part of the brain, and also associative cognitive brain areas that have higher-order cognitive functions, such as body image.

The researchers believed that findings of the studies and understanding about why people fall in love and why they are so heartbroken- would help to develop the new therapies. By identifying the parts of the brain stimulated by love, doctors and therapists can better understand the pains of love-sick patients.

Researcher's viewProfessor Stephanie Ortigue an assistant professor of psychology and an adjunct assistant professor of neurology, both in The College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University, who led the research, said: "These findings confirm love has a scientific basis. But they beg the question: 'Does the heart fall in love, or the brain?'"I would say the brain, but the heart is also related because the complex concept of love is formed by both bottom-up and top-down processes from the brain to the heart and vice versa." said ortigue.

She also added that 'Other researchers also found blood levels of nerve growth factor, or NGF, also increased. Those levels were significantly higher in couples who had just fallen in love. This molecule involved plays an important role in the social chemistry of humans, or the phenomenon 'love at first sight.'"These results confirm love has a scientific basis'.

For instance, activation in some parts of the brain can generate stimulations to the heart, butterflies in the stomach. Some symptoms we sometimes feel as a manifestation of the heart may sometimes be coming from the brain."- explains professor

The findings have major implications for neuroscience and mental health research because when love doesn't work out, it can be a significant cause of emotional stress and depression. "It's another probe into the brain and into the mind of a patient," says Ortigue.Ortigue and her team worked with a team from West Virginia University and a university hospital in Switzerland. The results of the study are published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. Ortigue worked on the love study with colleagues Francesco Bianchi-Demicheli (Geneva University Psychiatric Center, Switzerland), James Lewis (West Virginia University), Nisa Patel (graduate student in SU's College of Arts and Sciences) and Chris Frum (West Virginia University). Ortigue's follow-up study about the speed of love in the human brain is expected to be released soon.

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